All posts tagged ‘high ability learning’

The Aristotle Circle Stanford-Binet Test Preparation and Enrichment Kit includes activities that build on spatial relations skills, which are often assessed in gifted and talented tests. Photo: Patricia Vollmer

Have you ever wondered about those gifted and talented assessments that school systems might provide for children? What they include? What you could do as a parent to help a child prepare for the tests?

When the GeekMoms received an invitation from the Aristotle Circle company to review their new Stanford-Binet Test Preparation and Enrichment Kit, we discussed that latter question at length. Being scattered around the country (and the world!) we have many varied accounts of our school systems’ gifted and talented programs, if any at all. We debated whether this was actually something we could prepare our kids for. Some of us (myself included) had regarded being a gifted student as more intuitive…that one can’t necessarily study for it.

Whether a child could “study” for a gifted assessment or not became less relevant as our discussions continued. What if we could simply expose children to the tasks that might be asked of them to simply get him/her less nervous about an upcoming assessment?

That being said, I offered to review the kit. While I don’t have the education or psychology background to fully understand the gifted testing experience, I could at least offer the perspective of a parent who would embrace her sons’ opportunities to be in a gifted program. The company not only provided me with a complete kit for the family to check out, but we also have a coupon discount code for any GeekMom fans who’d like to make the investment (which I’ll provide at the end of the review).

The kit comes with a workbook for the child, a parent's guide to the workbook, plus five other sets of tools to perform activities. Photo: Patricia Vollmer

According to the Aristotle Circle website, the Stanford-Binet Test Preparation and Enrichment Kit will prepare students ages 4-10 for the following types of assessments:

When you unload the box, there are numerous props/books to use. The books will guide you on how to use the props. There is a large parent/teacher book with instructions for how the student is to use the student workbook.

The kit includes muslin storage bags for the activity props. Photo: Patricia Vollmer

The book presents several dozen activities, but we discovered pretty quickly that some of the activities are tailored to preschoolers, and we didn’t even try to pursue them.

This activity, where the pupil identifies what's wrong with each picture, was clearly tailored for the younger end of the age bracket. My sons still had fun with it. Photo: Patricia Vollmer

I will highlight some of the activities that were most appropriate for my sons, who are ages 7 and 9. See the captions for the details.

"Which of these things is not like the others?". Both of my sons completed every single one of these problems with enthusiasm. The problems got more difficult as we progressed. Photo: Patricia Vollmer

Counting rods. My youngest son (age 7) performed several of the tasks in this activity. The instructor puts a shape on one side of the line, the student is to replicate the shape on the other side. He didn't have any problems with it. Photo: Patricia Vollmer

Two-dimensional building blocks. The student is presented a two-dimensional picture in the book and needs to use 2-D blocks to recreate the picture. Photo: Patricia Vollmer

Three-dimensional building blocks. The pupil is presented with a shape in the book and the student uses the assorted blocks to re-create the picture in the book. Photo: Patricia Vollmer

"Sorting checkers". There are poker-chip sized cards with an assortment of pictures. The instructor/parent will use a list of options to challenge the student to categorize the chips. Photo: Patricia Vollmer

Here is a list of possible categorizations. My boys had fun with this one, which is an appropriate activity for all target ages. Photo: Patricia Vollmer

Other activities in this kit include:

Stacking cups (included in the kit)

Analogous reasoning (i.e., view three items and choose the fourth item in the progression)

In summary, this was a well-developed set of activities to explore. However, its utility as a family activity was somewhat limited for my own kids, who were on the older side of the recommended age range. Once my sons completed each and every “What’s wrong with this picture?”, “Which of these things is not like the other?”, and two- and three-dimensional building blocks activity, they deemed themselves complete with those activities. I predict they won’t want to do them again. There are other activities that are more “evergreen” and I’m sure the boys will continue to enjoy those.

I recommend this kit for families with preschool/Kindergarten aged children who think their children might have a special talent for spatial relations and analytical thought. Get this kit while the children are younger and a family can enjoy several years of use, making it a more worthwhile investment. Whether you think your child might be gifted or not, the skills a child can develop through these exercises can reap dividends for his learning abilities later in life.